


Experience

by CrimeAlley1048



Category: Batfamily - Fandom, Batgirl (Comics), batfam - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Profanity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-04-12 03:26:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19123606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrimeAlley1048/pseuds/CrimeAlley1048
Summary: Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!





	Experience

Stephanie jogged away from the riverbank and towards the city, into the crowds and the concrete. Her headphones drowned out most of the noise and replaced it with loud music; she hummed along as she ran down the sidewalk.

  
A hand reached out from the an alley as she went past. Without thinking, Stephanie yanked down her headphones and turned into a kick as hard as she could make it.

Her heel slammed into the stomach of a man lurking in the mouth of the alleyway. He gasped and doubled over, swearing.

  
At that point, Stephanie recognized her attacker.

  
“Jesus!” said Jason Todd. “Shit. Alright, yeah, that’s my fault. I should have let you know I was coming.”

  
Stephanie scanned him warily. Looking closely, she could see several weapons hidden in his clothing: jeans and a leather jacket over a tshirt— not his uniform. She stepped into the alley to talk.

  
“Coming why?”

  
“I could use a hand.”

  
“With what?”

  
“Bomb mission.”

  
Stephanie glared at him. “You set a bomb?”

  
“No, I’m looking for one.”

  
“Why?”

  
“To stop it from blowing up?” Jason stuck his head out of the alleyway and flashed a quick look in both directions. “Why else would I be looking for a bomb?”

  
“I don’t know! You’re the crime lord. You tell me.”

  
He sighed. “This may have been a mistake.”

  
“Why me?”

  
“I don’t hate you,” he said, “but honestly? This conversation is a really good start.”

  
Stephanie surveyed him again. He did look serious. She pushed down the voice in her head that told her this was a very bad idea and nodded instead. “Fine. What do you need?”

  
“A second man.”

  
“Batgirl or Stephanie?”

  
“Stephanie. We need to blend into the crowd.”

  
“ _We_ aren’t doing anything until you explain what’s going on.”

  
Jason sighed again. “There’s not much to explain. There’s a bomb somewhere in this area, but I don’t know exactly where. We find it before it explodes. I defuse it. End of mission.”

  
“Right.” Simple enough, Stephanie thought. End of mission. What could go wrong?

  
A lot, and she knew it. “Sure. Let’s go find a bomb.”

\------------------------

They split up immediately. Jason went left from the alleyway, and Stephanie went right. She walked slowly through assorted streets and alleyways, keeping to the grid with one headphone over her ear and one slid sideways into her hair. She peeked into dumpsters and storm drains. She checked every passerby for wires or suspect packages.

  
“Anything?” asked Jason through her headphones.

  
“Not yet.”

  
“Me neither.”

  
Stephanie finished another block and turned back onto the main street through the sidewalk in front of a fancy-looking hotel. She passed in front of the open double doors and felt a blast of air conditioning. A doorman looked lazily out from his position just inside.

  
“Jason?”

  
“What?”

  
“Are you sure the bomb is outside?”

  
“Not absolutely, no. Why?

  
“I have a hunch.” Stephanie squared her shoulders and marched into the hotel lobby, waving to the doorman like she belonged. He gave her leggings and tank top a sideways look, but he didn’t tell her no.

  
She peered around the ground floor. There was a fountain spitting water in middle while staircases wound upward towards the ceiling floors above her. Stephanie circled around the marble without incident. Nothing there. She wandered towards the elevator and hit the button for the top floor. She’d check the hotel from above, she thought, then head back outside.

  
The elevator played a calming noise over the loudspeaker as it began to move through floors. Stephanie cocked her head to the side. She didn’t like that sound. It made the hair on her arms stand up.

  
Why? She didn’t know. She listened intently as the elevator hit the fourth floor of eleven. There was something underneath the pleasant chiming— a clicking, regular sound.

  
The elevator was ticking.

  
Oh _shit_.

  
“Jason?” she asked, hitting the lock button on the elevator panel.

  
“Yeah?”

  
“I found it.” She yanked open the metal plating underneath the buttons and found what she expected: a mess of wires around a flickering timer counting downwards one second at a time.

  
“Active?”

  
“Yes.”

  
“How long?”

  
“Three minutes and… twenty-four, twenty-three, twenty-two, twenty—”

  
“I get the picture. Where are you?”

  
“Elevator in the Middleton Hotel.”

  
“I’m ten minutes out. You’re on your own.”

  
Stephanie gulped and mentally ran through her bomb defusing training. It had been awhile.

  
“Do you need me to walk you through it?”

  
“No.”

  
“I’m doing it anyway. What’s it look like?”

  
“I can handle this.”

  
“Can you?”

  
“Don’t ask me for help if you don’t trust me to get things done.” Stephanie knelt in front of the mess of machinery. “Five wires. Color coded.”

  
“What colors?”

  
“White, red, yellow, black, blue.”

  
“It’s never the red wire.”

  
“Thanks.”

  
“Time?”

  
“Two minutes, forty-six.”

  
“What’s the battery look like?”

  
“This is not helpful.”

  
“Battery.”

  
“It’s so relaxing.”

  
“You realize you’re in danger, right? Stop quipping and defuse the bomb.”

  
“I’m doing it! I’ve been trying this whole time!”

  
Stephanie had been. She’d pulled the machinery out of the console and untangled the mess of wires from each other. They dangled in front of her now, each connected to a gray port. That was step one, right? It had to be step one.

  
“Okay,” said Jason “Do you have the wires out?”

  
“Yes.”

  
“Check the serial number.”

  
“I know!”

  
“Then do it.”

  
“Two minutes, thirteen seconds.”

  
“You’re cutting it close.”

  
“No shit!” Stephanie almost threw her headphones across the elevator, but she restrained herself. She might need him. God’s truth, she wasn’t sure what she was doing.

  
“Have you ever done this before?” Jason asked.

  
“Simulations.”

  
“Then let me help you.”

  
“What, you have actual experience with bombs?”

  
The other end of Stephanie’s line went very quiet.

  
“Oh hell,” she whispered. “Oh hell, I forgot. I’m so sorry.”

  
“Whatever.” Jason said. “Concentrate.”

  
“Yeah.”

  
Stephanie bent over her bomb again. For the next minute, she fumbled with wires and ports as best she could.

  
Finally, Jason’s voice came over the line again. “If you can’t do it, get out now.”

  
“I can do it.”

  
“Are you sure?”

  
“Yes.”

  
“Sure enough to risk your life?”

  
“Yes!”

  
“Because in my personal _experience_?”

  
“Shut up.”

  
“Blowing up isn’t fun.”

  
“That’s really _fucking_ helpful, Hood.”

  
Nineteen seconds. Stephanie sat back on the elevator floor and came to terms with an inconvenient truth: she was going to have to pull a wire. She didn’t know which one. But she was going to have to do it.

  
Eleven seconds.

  
“Start running,” said Jason.

  
“Not yet.”

  
Eight seconds.

  
“Run or die.”

  
Stephanie looked over her options. With three seconds left, she made her choice.

  
Stephanie took a deep breath and pulled the red wire.

  
Silence. The elevator didn’t explode. The clock stopped on its last tick and held steady with 00:01 written across the screen.

  
Stephanie took another deep breath and collapsed backwards, flat on the floor. She heard Jason breathing on the other end of the line, also too fast and too loud.

  
“Stephanie?” he asked.

  
“Red wire,” Stephanie gasped. “It was the red wire.”

\------------------------

She saw him lurking on a patio across the street as she made her way out of the hotel doors. She waved to the doorman again and jogged over to meet him.

  
Jason looked very relieved to see her. “Call the commissioner?” he suggested. “Get the remains out of the building?”

  
“Already did. Bomb disposal is on its way.”

  
“Good.” Jason leaned back against his chair. “So… red wire, huh?”

  
“Red wire. I’m never listening to you again.”

  
“Not like you did before.”

  
“Yeah. Anyway.” Stephanie took the seat across from Jason on the patio table. She leaned forward and crossed her arms. “Sorry about the ‘experience’ thing.”

  
“I told you, it’s fine.”

  
“I honestly forgot.”

  
“It happens.”

  
A waiter came up to their table and asked for their order. They both chose iced coffee, and she went away again.

  
Jason tapped idly on the patio table while Stephanie checked her phone.

  
“Do you hate me yet?” she asked.

  
He smiled. “Nah. Give it another week.”

  
“What if I ask invasive questions first?”

  
“Go for it.”

  
“You died.”

  
“Yes.”

  
“How was that?”

  
Jason blinked at her, apparently at a loss. “Pretty bad?” he said finally.

  
“Right.”

  
“I watched the countdown hit zero knowing there was nothing I could do. The building exploded. I don’t remember after that.”

  
“Yeah.”

  
“I know the explosion didn’t kill me. The smoke did.”

  
“Shit.”

  
“It’s not my best memory.”

  
Stephanie shook her head. “I guess not.”

  
They sat in silence for a few moments.

  
“You were dead too, weren’t you?” Jason asked.

  
“Kind of.” Stephanie shrugged. “He thought I was.”

  
“How did he handle that?”

  
“Poorly, I’m told. He never came back from losing you.”

  
Jason snorted.

  
“He talks about you all the time.”

  
“Good for him.”

  
“He could have defused that thing in thirty seconds, you know.”

  
“Oh I know.”

  
They both laughed, then stopped talking while the waitress brought their drinks. After she left, Stephanie slurped down half of hers in one pull. It tasted good, or maybe she was still riding her adrenaline high. Either way, she was happy about it.

  
“You could have asked him for help,” she told Jason. “Or any of the others. They would have been a better choice than me.”

  
“I doubt it.” Jason grinned at her. “They’re pretty useless, and you’re not. You always impress me.”

  
“Really?” Stephanie finished her drink.

  
“Really.” Jason grabbed his from the table, pulled out a twenty dollar bill, and left it for the waitress. He swung over the patio fence, waved, and disappeared into the crowd.

  
“Huh,” Stephanie said. She lost him within seconds. For awhile, she considered running after him. That was probably what Bruce would do.

  
Sirens screamed down the street as a dozen cop cars pulled up in front of the hotel along with a giant truck. Men in full body suits poured out of it and into the lobby, shocking the poor doorman from his place by the door.

  
Ah, who cared what Bruce thought? Stephanie threw her cup in the trash, stuck her phone in the pocket of her leggings, and jogged off, away from the sirens and further into the city.

 


End file.
